Tag: Faith

THE HALLMARKS OF A “TRUE CHRISTIAN”.

In the 1960s & 1970s, Pentecostal and some other evangelical churches used to teach the need for true and genuine repentance, the need for the empowering of the Holy Spirit in our daily Christian lives to enable us to live a victorious Christian life; the fact that Jesus could come at any time, on any day for His Bride “The Church” was also an important part of our learning.

The other doctrines were also taught of course, but only after the solid foundation had been laid in the lives of the new Christians.   However, it is noticeable that over the past 30 – 40 years these aforementioned essential Christian Doctrines, have been gradually phased out to the point where it is extremely rare today to find a Church where these very important doctrines are taught.   We were also taught that “The FEAR of the Lord was the BEGINNING of wisdom”

Today the emphasis in the church is on the doctrines of “Grace” and “Love”.    God’s grace will cover all of your sins no matter what!   God loves you so much that even if you disobey Him you will still be able to go to heaven because you believe that Jesus is God.  This is an accurate picture of how the “Laodicean Church” is portrayed in the book of Revelation chapter 3.

But what does James say in Jas 2:19  “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.  Good for you!   Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.”  James is warning us that believing in Jesus as God, is not enough, there are other essentials required in our lives if we want to get to heaven.

I want to go through a few things that Church leaders and their parishioners should consider very carefully from the Bible.

  1. FORGIVENESS. –  Mat 6:14&15  “For if you forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:   v15  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your sins”.      Forgiveness is NOT an optional extra in our Christian life, if you want to go to heaven, you have to forgive.

David Guzik in his Bible commentary says this.   “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: Forgiveness is required for those who have been forgiven.   We are not given the luxury of holding on to our bitterness towards other people”.   He continues  “Neither will your Father forgive your trespasses:   Jesus has much more to say about forgiveness (Mat_9:2-6;  Mat_18:21-35, and Luke 17:3&4  So watch what you do! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.   Luke 17:4  If he sins against you seven times in one day, and each time he comes to you saying, ‘I repent,’  you MUST forgive him.”   Here, the emphasis is on the imperative of forgiveness – IT IS NOT AN OPTION.”   Guzik says, and I agree.

Yet how often do we hear Christians say, “I will never forgive them for what they did to me”, or something similar.

You may ask me, “How can I forgive him / her, he / she killed my son / daughter / brother / sister / father / mother or whoever, or they raped me, or my sister etc?”  What you have to realise is that it is Christ living in you who forgives, because you are DEAD.   Gal 2:20 tells us it is no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me through the power of the Holy Spirit.   If you are truly dead, and Christ is living in your body, then they have sinned against Christ.

The TRUE Christian will be able to hand it over to Jesus and allow Jesus to forgive on their behalf, because they are dead to hate, revenge, and all those feelings of the flesh.    When we are prepared to allow Jesus to control us, then what happens in our life is over to him.    How He will handle the situation is not our concern, He may even use the situation to bring that person to repentance and to salvation.   On the other hand if the person does not repent, as Rom 12:19 says “I will take revenge; I will pay them back says the LORD”,   but that is God’s prerogative, not ours.

  1. ABIDING IN CHRIST. John 15:6  “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”     What does “Abiding in Christ” mean?   Some versions have,  “If anyone does not remain in Me”.     Most Bible commentators agree, that these people were “True Christians”, but for some reason or other they have stopped their sustenance from the “True Vine” Jesus – see John 15:1  “I am the “True Vine”. So if we walk away from Jesus, literally, we are walking away from heaven.

There are many false vines in the world today, many counterfeit vines claiming to be Jesus, or claiming to have the “Truth”, which is actually their own “convenient” version of the God’s word, in which they teach, “God’s grace will cover your sins, so do as you please”.   The end result of this teaching is that the branch dies and is cast into the fire because it is feeding on poison, lies, deception, half truths, error and heresy, instead of the True Word of God.    Only the Bible gives us the True Word of God.

  1. THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT. In the parable of the ten virgins  in Mat 25 verse 3 we are told that  “The foolish virgins took their lamps but did not take any oil with them”.  So what was the parable about, and what was the end result?     It is well known that “Oil” is one of the symbols used in scripture to signify “The Holy Spirit”.   It is also well known that the lamp, or indeed any vessel or potters vessel in scripture often refers to a person.  E.g.  See Acts_9:15 “Saul, a chosen vessel unto God”, etc.   The parable therefore is warning us of the need to maintain our bodies as the temple, or dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.

1Co 6:19  “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?  You do not belong to yourself.”   Our lives will either be filled with the Holy Spirit, or else our lives will be filled with the things of the flesh and of this world.     If we are going to make it into heaven, then our lives must be filled with the Holy Spirit.    When we realise that we are not our own, we are God’s, and if the Holy Spirit is in charge of our lives, then HE can change our habits, HE can change our attitudes, HE can change our desires, our ambitions, our goals etc.

  1. OBEDIENCE. Mat 7:21  “Not everyone who calls me their Lord will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only the ones who obey my Father in heaven will get in.”    To obey means to do what God has asked us to do, and not to do what He has told us not to do.      Obedience to the Lord is a sign of our Love for the Lord, see John 14:15  “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”    If you want to get to heaven, you must do God’s will and obey God’s commands.
  1. HOLINESS.    In 1Pet_1:16 Peter says,  “It is written, ‘Be ye holy  for I am holy’”,  —- the only way we can be holy, is through the indwelling Holy Spirit being in charge of our lives; see the following:-

Gal 5:16-21  “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. v19  When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, v20  idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, v21  envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”    Sadly, our churches today are not warning people of the dangers of living in this way.

Many young people today, particularly those who live in “Western Nations” nations, who until twenty years ago would have called themselves “Christian” nations, live in sexual sin.    Sadly, many people today who call themselves Christians, are not “True Christians”, as they continue to live the life of the world and of the flesh.     Repentance means turning away from, and ceasing to do all these things, not continuing on in them.

  1. LOVE.    I have probably left the most important for the last.  We saw earlier that obedience to God was a pre requisite for entering heaven.   When Jesus was tested by the Scribes and Pharisees in regard to the greatest commandment, He answered as follows

Mark 12:29-31  Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  v 30  And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’   v 31  The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.‘  No other commandment is greater than these.”

True love of God leads to true obedience to Jesus.

True love of God has complete trust in Jesus.

True love of God has a deep longing for Jesus.

True love of God is prepared to wait in obedience for Jesus.

True love of God will be looking for Jesus to come every day.

True love of God will pore over the teachings of the Bible every day.

True love of God will talk to Jesus every day.

True love of God will be full of Jesus, and will want to tell everybody.

I fear for many Christians today who do not Fear God, nor follow the above.

No wonder Jesus questioned in Luke 18:8   “when the Son of Man comes, will he find anyone with faith on earth?”

To say that any of the above requirements are no longer valid or required in Christianity today because of God’s love and grace, is the same as saying that God has changed,  but see what Mal 3:6 has to say  “For I am the LORD, I change not”.       Or, it is the same as saying that Jesus is not the same yesterday, today and forever,  but see Heb 13:8  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever”.  If you say these scriptures no longer apply today, then we cannot trust anything the Bible says.

I suggest that we all need to consider these and other similar teachings of God’s word very carefully.     Always take the safest path.

God Bless

Lex Cullen.

AFTER THE RAPTURE.

The Bible warns that after the “True Christians” have been removed from the earth, the present chaos and destruction will continue, and in fact, things will get much, much worse in the days ahead, so we need to be very clear on a few things here.

There will be many millions of people who will deny that the rapture was God taking the Christians from the earth.   They will point to themselves and say, “I’m still here, and I’m a Christian, therefore it wasn’t God who took these people”    Many of these people will hold high offices in many of the churches, Popes, Priests, Bishops,  Pastors, etc. God calls these leaders, false prophets and false teachers in 2 Peter 2:1  But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

And  the following verse  tells us in 2 Pet 2:2  And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

The Bible warns us that many people will follow these false leaders, in fact Jesus  calls these people “tares planted among the wheat,” and ” foolish virgins whose lamps had no oil (i.e. Holy Spirit) in them, thus they were not ready watching or expecting the Lord’s coming.”       Many of these people will admit that they were never “Born Again” or Holy Spirit filled.  (Read John’s gospel chapter three and see what God had to say about it).   They were satisfied with what they were taught by their religious leaders, that it was not necessary, and that it was only radicals and fundamentalists who believe that nonsense.   Many of those left behind will have rarely gone to church, rarely have read their Bible and studied what is in the Bible, and many will rarely have prayed, these are called “Nominal Christians” or Christians in name only, but not practicing what the Bible teaches in their daily life; and they will come from every church, and from every denomination, and from every country around the world.

All sorts of garbage about what has happened will be circulated by the media, and by unbelieving church leaders, and they will believe a lie, as God foretold in  2 Thess 2:9  The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,  (verse 10) and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  (verse 11)
And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, (verse 12)  that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The media and Hollywood have already set people up, brainwashing them to believe in “Aliens” and “Space ships” etc, and I have no doubt the world leaders, and especially the man who would be God a.k.a. “Antichrist” will produce some amazing and miraculous signs, and will offer some sort of amazing “proof” (so called) that it was not God who took “The True Christians” out of every church, and out of every denomination, and out of every country around the world, but rather it was something like Aliens etc., and people will believe the lies because they want to.     They won’t want to believe that it was God.

For those who do decide to  repent of their sins and of their unrighteous ways,  and turn to God, and follow His ways, after the church has been taken , they face a difficult and dangerous time called “The Great Tribulation”, a seven year period of time during which God allows the unrestrained evil and wickedness of mankind, combined with the forces of nature and of the heavens, and even demon spirits to bring punishment on the unrepentant and evil people of the world.    During this time, many of those who do turn to God in repentance  will be murdered because of their faith in Jesus Christ, as is foretold in  “Revelation 7:9  After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,”  and we are told who these are in “Rev 7:13  Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?”
Rev 7:14  And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

If you are not a True Christian yet, as at this time September 27th 2016, you may have only a few days or less, we don’t know exactly, but I believe there is only a short time left to repent and turn to God for forgiveness and cleansing, and to ask God to come into you life and fill your life with His Holy Spirit.    As I said, it may only be days, no one knows, but it will be very soon.   Put your faith in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, who died to take your punishment and cleanse away your sin, and give you salvation.    Jesus is the only one who can save you from your sins. 

Don’t waste what precious time you have, do it now!     Ezra’s Year of Jubilee is about to end in a few day from now, and we do know that God will set the True Christians free from this world during a Jubilee year, most likely Ezra’s year of Jubilee; otherwise He will do it in the original Year of Jubilee, which will be starting in a few days time.   We have come to the end of this age of God’s grace, and will soon enter the time of God’s punishment for sin.

The second important thing to note is this, we do not know how long it will be between the time the True Christians are taken from the earth, until the time of the Great Tribulation commences.   The following articles are taken from men of God whom I hold in high respect, so I leave their comments for you to read.

AFTER THE RAPTURE  by Dr Chuck Missler.

We are confident that the Rapture precedes the Tribulation of the 70th Week.   It does not need to trigger the 70th Week – it could precede it by some time – but the Church’s removal is important for that week to start.  It ends the Church Age, the time of the Gentiles, and it opens the door for Israel to take centre stage again, continuing where the 69th week left off. As Paul notes in the book of Romans:

That the Church is removed is clear. The distance in time between the Rapture and the start of the 70th Week certainly is an interval. It could be conceivably one day or it could be 30 years.   But it is during this interval between the Rapture and the beginning of the 70th Week that a world leader emerges publicly.   Daniel 9: 27 tells us it is the covenant of this coming world leader that sets everything up for the Great Tribulation. He will define the start of the 70th week by making a covenant with Israel, but who this leader is cannot be revealed until after the Rapture.”   

In 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8, Paul makes a key statement. “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. . .” (NKJV).   Who is the Restrainer in verse 7? Who is the one who restrains this event until the time is right? From the Greek, we’re going to argue that it is the Holy Spirit. The only entity who has ever restrained sin is God through the Holy Spirit, sent by Jesus.

Now this becomes fascinating! The Restrainer Paul spoke of is not an angel, it’s not the Church in the usual sense, and it’s certainly not the Roman government. When the Restrainer is removed, then and only then will the Man of Sin be revealed, because he is no longer held back in his lies and lawlessness. These verses clearly indicate, both connotatively and denotatively, that the Holy Spirit is removed with the Church at the Rapture, leaving no one standing in the way of the Man of Sin.

Dr Chuck Missler. The Rapture: Christianity’s Most Preposterous Belief (Kindle Locations 1035-1038). Koinonia House. Kindle Edition.

AFTER THE RAPTURE  by Dr. E.W. Bullinger.

“There is every reason to believe that “the day of the Lord” will be a prolonged period. It must not be confined to “seven years,” as is so often done. The time between the coming forth of the Lord into the air to meet His Church, and the time of His coming unto the Earth with His Church, in power and great glory, may correspond to the thirty-three years between His coming forth at Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) cf  Matt 2:1     and His coming unto Jerusalem (Zech. 9:9)  cf  Mathew 21:10

But we, today, with our knowledge, know that there was an interval of more than thirty years between the two events. Both refer to one and the same Coming, but to two different stages in it; and that all the events between them go to make up what we speak of as the “first Coming.” We believe that it will be exactly the same with regard to what we call the “second Coming.” There will be the same two stages, with a similar interval (or longer it may be) between them, and all the events (which are recorded in the Apocalypse and elsewhere) will go to make up what we speak of as “the second Coming.”      

Dr. E.W. Bullinger.  Commentary on Revelation (Kindle Locations 622-628).   Kindle Edition. 

Regardless of whether the Great Tribulation commences on the day the church is taken, from the earth, or whether it does not commence for some period of time after the church has been taken, it is imperative that you waste no time getting right with God, time is not on your side, time is your enemy, because this world is going to become a very, very dangerous place, if you die as a non-Christian in an accident, or however it might be, you do not have another chance to get in to heaven.

God Bless.

Lex Cullen

 

The Christians’ Hope.

The word “Hope” in the Bible comes from the Greek word – “Elpis,” which is a NOUN.    A noun according to the dictionary, is a naming word for something which exists.    The most usual way we use the word hope today is a verb, an action word, I hope I win the lotto this week.   I hope to see you again soon.   I hope you have a safe trip.  I hope I will get a raise this year.

The Christians’ Hope is often confused with desire; or with belief, which are verbs, but when the desire or belief do not yield the expected result, they turn to despair.     The Christians’ Hope is a noun, it is concrete and it is eternal.

The Christians’ Hope is made up of a concrete anticipation, which brings pleasure; it is an expectation which is born of faith.   It is the certain knowledge of coming good.

Bible Illustrator Commentary. “The nature of Christian hope.     There is no word more beautiful than “hope.” It is alight with the radiance of a future fulfilment.”

The Christians’ Hope is built on the “earnest” or “pledge,” that is part of the purchase money or property, given in advance as a security for the balance which is still to come. The earnest, or the deposit, on our Christian inheritance.

Ephesians 1:14  “The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised, and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.”

Lotto Ticket.  Here is the hope the world has … they pay their money and buy the ticket.   There is NO guarantee, and no pledge they will win anything, let alone win the main prize.     They want to win, they hope to win, and a few people even believe that they will win, but there is no guarantee.   When they don’t win they feel disappointed, and so the cycle of hoping (or wishing) begins again.

HERE’S the difference.   Colossians 1:5  “because what you hope for is kept safe for you in heaven.  (Concrete, fixed, eternal, and guaranteed.)  You first heard about this hope when you believed the true message, which is the good news.”

The Christians’ Hope is called “THE BLESSED HOPE”

Titus 2:13   “looking for the blessed hope — and — the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

So what is our blessed hope?  The answer lies in reading verses 13 & 14 together.     Titus 2:13&14  “Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ,  Who gave himself for us, that he might REDEEM us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

Our blessed Hope is the “REDEMPTION” of our mortal bodies.     To redeem, is to purchase back from somebody else, – something which was either stolen from you and then on sold to its present owner, or – to buy back something which you pawned at the pawn broker, with the option to purchase it back at a greater price later on when you can afford to.

God created and owned mankind until Adam and Eve pawned themselves off to Satan and to sin.   Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, Redeemed, or, – purchased us back from Satan, by paying the terrible price of His own life, and the shedding of His own blood to cover all of our sins, as seen in verse 14 above.

That is the True Christians’ “Blessed Hope.”    The price has already been paid, and Jesus has already given us the pledge, in the indwelling Holy Spirit, and that when He comes again, He will take us with Him.

1Corinthians 15:52-53   says “It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown.  For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever.  And we who are living will also be transformed.   For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must first be transformed into immortal bodies.”    They were immortal until the day Adam and Eve sinned, and part of our redemption requires that we be restored again to immortality.   This is our Redemption, and this is Our Blessed Hope.

But Paul is looking for more than just the Blessed Hope in verse 13.    So, what comes next? — “AND – the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.”   This is found in 1Thessalonians 4:17   Then, (After we have been changed) “then together with those who were dead in Christ, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  Then we will be with the Lord forever.”    These verses in 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thess 4 when taken together, i.e. our transformation, followed immediately by our being caught up to meet Jesus in the air, constitute our full Redemption.   They constitute our Blessed Hope.

The Christians’ hope, will never make us ASHAMED.

Romans 5:5   “And hope does not make us ashamed, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us.”

Thayer Definition:   Shame in the Greek  =  kataischunō   It means -:
1) to dishonour, disgrace.     2) to put to shame, make ashamed.
2a) to be ashamed, blush with shame.     2b) one is said to be put to shame who suffers a repulse, or who has been deceived by hope.
The True Christian will never feel ashamed of Jesus, because of what He has done for us, because of the price He was prepared to pay for us, and because of the HOPE he has given us.    Our gratitude and our reciprocal love should bring us to our knees in thanksgiving and worship.     Neither will Jesus ever be ashamed of the True Christian.     Matthew 10:32 “If you stand before others and are willing to say you believe in me, then I will tell my Father in heaven that you belong to me.”   Nobody can or will ever put the True Christian to shame over our Blessed Hope.

Our Hope is a WONDERFUL Hope.

2Thessalonians 2:16  “We pray that the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father will comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.    God loved us and gave us through his grace a wonderful hope and comfort that has no end.”    A description of what is entailed in this hope is found in …  1Corinthians 2:9&10    But as the Scriptures say, “No one has ever seen, no one has ever heard, no one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” v:10  But God has shown us these things through the Spirit. The Spirit knows all things. The Spirit even knows the deep secrets of God.”     We find the explanation of this verse in  Romans 8:16&17  “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.    v17  And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; so that if we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified together.”    Revelation 5:10  “And You (Jesus) made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign over the earth.   This is all part of our Wonderful Hope.      To me, just to be in Jesus presence will be wonderful, unimaginable and glorious.

Our Hope is a LIVING Hope.

1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”      Had Jesus not been resurrected from the dead, then we would have had no hope, and as Paul said, “We would be of all men most miserable.”    BUT our hope is a living hope because it is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me.    Jesus Christ is our living hope and He lives in us.    Colossians_3:4   “Yes, Christ is now your life, and when he comes again, you will share in his glory.”

It is a PURIFYING Hope.

1 John 3:3   “He (Jesus) is pure, and everyone who has this hope in him will keep themselves pure like Christ.”      If we want to maintain our hope unblemished and untarnished, we will keep ourselves pure.” Because it is written, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” in 1 Peter 1:16.     The True Christian will run away from sin and temptation, and will try to keep himself “Holy and Pure” for the Lord Jesus, remembering that one day, we are going to be a part of His Bride.    We should be trying not to dishonour Him during our journey through this world, as we pursue the world to come.

It is a REJOICING Hope.

Romans 12:12   “Rejoice in hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.”    When things are going wrong, we are still able to rejoice because of the confident hope we have in Jesus.   The sure knowledge of what lies ahead will keep us rejoicing, even in difficult circumstances.     Joy is different to happiness. Happiness stems from happenings, but joy and rejoicing comes from the confident hope which we have in Jesus.   As Matthew Henry says    “Those who hope for the glory of God hereafter have enough to rejoice in now.   It is our duty to rejoice in that hope.”

It is a CONTINUING Hope.

Corinthians 13:13  “So, these three things continue: faith, hope, and love.   And the greatest of these is love.”    Hope is acknowledged to be one of the three principal graces of a Christian.    Why is that?    It is because God cannot lie when he says something, so this hope becomes an anchor for us.  It is strong and sure and keeps us safe.  It continues to hold us, even in the storms of life, and it will continue to do so until our last breath, because it is founded on God Himself.   It cannot change, it cannot wither or die, because it is kept safe for us in Heaven.

Romans 15:13  “I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace as you trust in him.    Then you will have more and more hope, and it will flow out of you by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Of Dispensations and Pre Tribulation.

I have noticed recently that “Dispensationalists and Pre Tribulation Teachers” have been coming in for some harsh criticism from anti dispensationalists, and anti pre tribulation teachers, so I thought I would give my reasons as to why I am both a Dispensationalist and also a Pre Tribulation believer. I will not however be engaging in criticism of other Christians, as I do not believe that is God glorifying, but I will be stating my beliefs and backing them up with scripture, and I will make comments on why I do not accept some of their allegations against us, or some of their beliefs about the timing of the rapture.

I believe that there are time periods set by God for certain things to take place in the plan of God.   These time periods are called dispensations.  The word dispensation comes from the Greek word “Oikonomia” which means the order or running of the household.    You could say dispensations are like agenda items, when you complete one agenda item you move on to the next.    To my way of thinking if there are no dispensations, the Bible becomes a book of contradictions, mysterious to the uninitiated, and difficult to understand, whereas in fact it is God’s revelation to us of His plans for mankind.

Revelation means to reveal, or to disclose, to make clear and understandable.   Without dispensations the Bible becomes a minefield for Christians, and a paradise for non Christians of every other religion and or persuasion, it becomes a book where men have to put their own interpretation on much of what God is saying.   It becomes a mystery not a revelation.

I think that there are some things which apply to one dispensation but not others, and that there are some things which apply to all dispensations, but without dispensations, you have a big mess of contradictions.  I believe and note here also, that dispensations are taught in the Bible, and a classic example of this is found in Eph 1:10 where it says “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:”   In this verse we can see clearly that there will be another dispensation called the fullness of times, which appears to come after the Millennial dispensation.

Dispensationalism is also seen in the writings of early Christians such as Paul, as seen above in Eph 1:10, it is also used by the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor 9:17, and again in Eph 3:2 and Col 1:25.   It is also noted in the writings of early historians such as Justin Martyr, (A.D. 110-165), Iranaeus (A.D. 130-200)   and Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 150-220) to name just a few.

Contrary to most other theological beliefs, Dispensational Theology believes that Israel and the Church are two distinct entities, operating in two distinct dispensations.   I am convinced that although both have had special relationships with God, they are not essentially one and the same.   Israel as a nation, is not and never was the church, and the church is not and never was the nation of Israel.   There are Israelis and Jews in the church, and in fact the church was founded by Jews.   When we gentiles become Christians, we are grafted into the family of faith, the father of whom was Abraham, father of the Israeli nation, but we are not grafted into the nation of unbelieving Israel!

When comparing Israel and the Church in the Bible, the word church is never seen or used in the Old Testament, and it is never seen or used after the Rapture takes place in Revelation 4:1.

I believe that it is only with dispensations that you can take the Bible literally.    Without dispensations, much of the Bible has to be interpreted according to what men think God meant rather than by what the Bible actually says.      Dispensationalists realise that there are many parts of the Bible which are allegorical, but we believe the majority of the Bible is literal, and we can see that so far, all the fulfilled prophecies have been fulfilled literally, and that those currently in the process of being fulfilled, are also shaping up to be fulfilled literally.

Allegorical passages of scripture are usually easy to recognise, such as parables and poems etc. but allegorical interpreters are very often seen to be at odds with each other, having different interpretations, because different people will always have different views on what the passage might mean.

Without dispensations you cannot have a Pretribulation Rapture.   The Pretribulation Rapture depends entirely on a literal interpretation of the Bible wherever it makes sense to interpret it literally.     Without a Pretribulation Rapture you must have God pouring out His wrath and judgement upon Himself, because He is dwelling in true believers in the person of the Holy Spirit!  That would not make sense at all.   Neither would God pouring out His wrath on the Bride to be of His only Son, who gave His life to cleanse and purify her make any sense.   God is NOT about to pour out tribulation of any type, nor His wrath upon Himself or the Bride to be of His Son!

Will the church go through tribulation?  ABSOLUTELY!    The church has gone through tribulation from its beginning, and much of that tribulation has been terrible and unbelievably cruel.   The inquisition was a time of terrible tribulation when millions of Christians were slaughtered for their faith in Jesus Christ.   The Communist countries butchered millions of Christians when they came to power in Russia and China.   Millions of Christians have been butchered by Moslems since the day Muhammad began the religion of Islam right up until today.

Much of the church is going through terrible tribulation right now in Moslem countries, in China, in India, in North Korea and in over 120 other countries around the world today.    But it is Satan and not God who is pouring out his wrath on the church today.    Satan knows that his time is up, and because of this his fury is being unleashed upon God’s people all around the world and it is spreading rapidly to the rest of the world.

Billy Graham’s Warning to American Churches: ‘Prepare for Persecution’

The Rev. Billy Graham has issued a written warning to America’s churches: “Prepare for persecution.” The renowned preacher and founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association penned a commentary that was posted on his website last week and is slated to appear in the November edition of Decision magazine.    His son Franklin Graham wrote “Persecution and targeting of Christians isn’t just in Iran or the Middle East, it’s right here in America,” wrote Franklin Graham.

I believe that if the Lord does not come back soon for His bride, that we shall soon see Christians in Australia being targeted by the world for our stand against sins of every type, most notably same sex marriage and sexual perversion of every type.   You can see it already beginning to build here in Australia as it has already in America.   But Jesus said, ‘If they hate you, remember they hated me before they hated you,’ (John 15:18).”

The accusations made by anti Pre Tribulation rapture teachers that we are afraid of tribulation, is to me both ridiculous and repugnant.   The belief that True Christians will suffer the wrath of God in the tribulation, is unscriptural and nonsensical.   Jesus has paid the full price for our sins; to have God pour out His wrath on True Christians, is to say that God was not satisfied with the sacrifice of His own son on the cross, and so Christians must pay a bit more.    That is not what the Bible says.

Yes, we must prepare ourselves for persecution and tribulation, but at the hands of wicked people who are driven by Satan, that has been the portion of the church from the beginning, and will be until Jesus comes back for us.

But persecution and tribulation do NOT come to the True Church from the hand of a loving God who says in Rom_5:9  “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”  And again in 1Th_5:9 “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

5. “Born Again” Survival Continued

First read my earlier “Born Again” Category blogs in order from 1-5.

Remember we are still human, and we will still sin, but we must try not to, as every time we sin, it hurts God.   When we do sin it is important to tell God we are sorry, and to try not to keep doing the things we know are wrong, so that our fellowship with Him is not broken or spoiled, because He forgives us when we confess to Him our sin.

Jesus taught that if we do not continue to love God and keep His commandments, and remain in communion with Him, we can die again to God and lose our spiritual life again.  Some christians do not believe this, but see “What the Bible says”, in the following passages.

“Heb 6:4  For how can those who abandon their faith be brought back to repent again?  They were once in God’s light; they tasted heaven’s gift and received their share of the Holy Spirit;   Heb 6:5  they knew from experience that God’s word is good, and they had felt the powers of the coming age.  Heb 6:6  And then they abandoned their faith! It is impossible to bring them back to repent again, because they are again crucifying the Son of God and exposing him to public shame.”   This is really clear here, but it is seen again & again throughout the Bible.
Eg. “Mat 7:22  On the day of judgment many will call me their Lord. They will say, “We preached in your name, and in your name we forced out demons and worked many miracles  v23  Then I will tell those people clearly, ‘Get away from me, you people who do wrong. I never knew you.”  Clearly they had been followers of Jesus at some stage of their lives.    And again in -:

Mat 13:18 ff  The parable of the sower clearly indicates that many received the seed (the word of God), and began to grow in Christ, but for all sorts of reasons they fell away and died again.

Mat 25 Jesus tells the story of the ten virgins, five were wise and kept in communion with the Lord, the other five were foolish and allowed their relationship with God to lapse, the oil (oil is a symbol in scripture of the Holy Spirit) had been allowed to run out in their lamps. (the lamp is a symbol in scripture of our lives), they were no longer in communion with the Lord, with the result they were locked out from Gods’ wedding feast, which is a picture of Gods’ Kingdom.

Finally Revelation 3:14  “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: “This is the message from the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the origin of all that God has created.  v15  I know what you have done; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other!  v 16  But because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth!.  v17  You say, ‘I am rich and well off; I have all I need.’ But you do not know how miserable and pitiful you are! You are poor, naked, and blind”.    This is a very accurate picture of the majority of churches today, but especially so in the western world.

The Laodicean church is the final church of this age, in which we live.  I realise that there are Christians from all seven of the Churches Jesus addresses mixed in amongst all of the different ages, however it is the majority of the Christians in each age that is being described, and this is the reason why it is desperately important to choose a Bible believing Spirit filled Church that does not just follow the crowd, do the in thing, which today, is of the devil.